Moto Guzzi California Stone

The California Stone is the heir to the glorious Jackal, a motorcycle with no excuses, two wheels and a frame, for dreaming and travelling free of everything, including prejudice. Minimalist and hard as a rock, with no useless frills and with personality to burn. Like the Jackal, the Stone is a stripped down California. You get better handling than you’d expect from a cruiser as California have always had that on their side. With build quality under the new Aprila regime streets ahead of the bad old days, it finally has a fit, finish and the electrics to suit its long life motor. Good handling and thudding thump from the legendary Guzzi motor, the chrome version costs an extra £200.
Colour options: grey, black, white, orange, metallic black and chrome.

Review by Dominic Rivers : I bought my “Porphory Grey” Stone in April ’01 for £5500 (including some extra bits’n'bobs) from 3x motorcycles in Dorset, at the time I was looking for a shafty with a bit of go and decent pillion provision, and with my 5k
(ish) budget the choice quickly distilled down to a Guzzi, the only other choice being a Honda Deuville, enough said.
Having (mis)spent my formative years on a variety of sportsbikes it would be fair to say it has taken a bit of getting used to, the engine creates a series of very real shuddering explosions in response to the slightest input from the right hand which, allied to the truly massive torque it puts out, makes low speed u turns a matter of delicacy. The gearbox, especially at first, is very slow and full of false neutrals, after 3000 miles or so the false neutrals completely disappear but the box is still slow and clunky (Guzzisti have traditionally blamed this on the “flywheel effect, but their own range of sportsbikes are now fitted with decent boxes so a new excuse is needed), though it is fair to say you do get used to it and, after all, it’s not like you have to do it that often on these, which brings me neatly on to performance.
These bikes SHIFT, not, you understand, in a GSXR kind of way, but it will happily look a Ducati Monster 900 in the eye and a mate of mine is still mortified by having his Buell thoroughly outdragged from a rolling sixty on the motorway (both two up), for the record it will show you 130mph on the clock with your chin on the tank solo and then show you 130mph on the clock uphill with luggage and your wife on the back!!.
Handling errs on the stable side due to the length of the “Tonti” frame (first seen on the fabled “Le Mans” models) and the somewhat strange choice (on a 9ft bike) of fitting a steering damper as std, and this is the first bike I haven’t touched anything down on.
Brakes do the business (whopper Brembo “goldline” on front), plenty of feel but could be stronger for two-up, an extra front disc is available as an option and when bought this way is plumbed in without any linked braking cleverness.
The finish is way better than they used to be and well up to Jap standards though optional extras like luggage frames and screen mtgs are still badly chromed (use Plasticoat clear laquer).
If you feel like being a little different you really can’t go far wrong with one of these, its easily the fastest, best handling cruiser about (and yes I know about Harley’s Vrod) .
Finally, if I have convinced you, be sure to get a screen for yours as it is unrideable without one over 60mph and the 40mm bars mean aftermarket screens don’t fit,also be aware that the Stone Metal has UNadjustable rear suspension for some bloody reason.
Repeat after me “I will not buy a Dragstar, I will not b…… “